Checkmate
by BCH
Summary: When Kyoya was 10, he made a friend. ((contains mostly fluff, but contains triggering stuff at the end so don't say I didn't warn you))
1. Chapter 1

**((a/n: this is gonna be fluffy to start with bc what isn't cute about 10 year old kyoya awww! but then it's going to get a lot more serious and mature so I'm rating this M just because of the themes and implications provided near the end and a lot more stuff you'll find out as you go along. this is chapter one so tell me what you think etc enjoy enjoy enjoy - y'all know i don't own any of john steinbeck's work or ouran whatsoever so that's that okay go go go))**

* * *

The room was washed-out in colouration, nothing darker than the pastel blue of the heavy curtains that blocked out the waxy glow of the moon on this cold, misty night in late September. The floor was white, but the same white as gone-off milk, and shone as brightly as if it had just been scrubbed with a fresh layer of polish. The whole place stank of chemicals, of the sharp alcohol hand sanitizer positioned at the entrance to every ward.

It was deathly silent too, besides the steady beeping of the heart monitor which stood beside the bed like an embodiment of Death himself, looming over the grey cotton sheets expectantly waiting for the flat-line to indicate another victim had been snatched away.

The girl who lay in between these sheets was small, and deathly thin, her body all angles and bones, laid out in awkward positions which made them appear broken, but she slept quite soundly. Her face was pale and her eyes sunken, causing her to resemble a skeleton despite the rattling breaths that still sounded through her quivering form. Her hair was dark and coated in sweat, causing it to plaster to her forehead and the top of her cranium, getting gradually more and more matted as she moved her head around against the rough pillow. She couldn't have been more than 10 years old, and her hand kept twitching towards her mouth to suck her thumb, but was restrained by the wire of the IV drip which was embedded in one of her many highly prominent veins.

Her gown was too large for her, but ruckered up around her waist as she tossed and turned, her mind stuck in some terrible nightmare her body was not strong enough to free her from. The fabric lifted with each movement to reveal burns, welts and deep gashes (albeit scabbed over now) that littered her stomach like crimson flowers on a snowy meadow.

* * *

Kyoya Ootari was the youngest of the Yoshio Ootari's three sons, he was never to interhit the business empire his father was slowly accumulating but for now he was not concerned by that, despite his father regularly reminding him of that fact. For now, he was a 10 year old boy with glasses that were a little too big for him, and a copy of Of Mice and Men under his arm.

He lolloped after his father and brothers through the winding corridors, having to accelerate at twice their speed just to keep up, as their long legs were almost twice the size of his. His hair was growing quite unruly and his mother regularly noted how he was in need of a haircut as she smoothed it away from his eyes before dinner. It was getting in the way now as he tried to keep a close tail on the Chief of Medicine who was directing them where to go next.

His father was buying out this hospital and all the hospitals in the area to add to his ever-growing collection. Kyoya didn't understand why he did it, but he knew it was 'the thing to do', so he took as many mental notes as he could on how to be exactly like him. Despite his father's insistence not to acknowledge him, he longed to grow up to be just like him, he was his role model and nothing could change that, not even all the times Yoshio stared right through him instead of at him.

The corridors all looked the same and Kyoya couldn't hear his father's voice anymore, nor could he see any staff, who'd been scurrying along to keep up with his father and brothers during the tour, offering them refreshments the second they cleared their throats. It was nearing midday and he was quite sleepy, having stayed up doing his extra Math homework until almost 1am the night before. It wouldn't be fitting for the son of a multi-national corporation businessman to clamber into one of the hospital beds and just fall asleep but they seemed so tempting and comfortable that he was finding it hard to resist the idea.

He pushed open the door to his right and looked around the room, at first he believed that it was empty, until he saw some watchful orbs observing him silently from the bed. If her eyes weren't so bright, he doubted he'd have been able to decipher her minuscule form from the tangle of bedsheets and plush pillow she lay upon.

"What's your name?" it asked, it's voice was croaky and quiet.

"My name is Kyoya Ootari, my father is Yoshio Ootari, the businessman." he said pompously, "We're buying out this hospital as soon as my father's reviewed it's value to our corporation."

"Oh. I'm Ikumi."

"Ikumi what?"

"No-one's told me."

"Oh." he gave her a long, steady look, "Is that why you're here? Amnesia?"

"No."

He opened his mouth to press on further but she had rolled over, which seemed to make it clear to him she no longer wished to proceed with the topic. He pushed his glasses up his nose as they were slipping down.

"Do you get bored?" she asked softly.

"With what?"

"With your life. Being rich and having everything handed to you. Does it get boring?"

"Yes."

"So how do you keep yourself busy?"

"Are you bored?"

"Yes."

Kyoya walked over to her bed and heaved himself up onto it so that he was sitting beside her feet. Now that he looked at her from the front, she seemed less transparent, though her skin was grotesquely pale and glistening with a fine film of sweat. He placed the book down on what he guessed was her lap, not noticing how she flinched at the contact.

"I read." he said, "You can have this, I have a better copy at home."

"I can't read." she answered.

This concept was foreign to him, and he stared at her blankly for a few seconds before struggling to regain his composure and not allow her to notice his surprise in case she got offended.

"Would you like me to read a bit to you? To see if you like it, of course."

She smiled, it was a big grin, and he noticed how chipped her teeth were. He took this beaming expression to be a yes, and he opened the worn copy of Of Mice and Men to the first page.

"A few miles south of Soledad, the Salinas River drops in close to the hillside bank and runs deep and green..."

* * *

Yoshio Ootari was aware of his divided attentions between his sons, and it had become even more apparent now as he realised his smallest son, Kyoya, had detached himself from the group. Thinking back, Yoshio didn't have the slightest idea where he'd lost the boy, as Kyoya rarely spoke up at times like these, and usually followed behind meekly like a little lamb. His eldest son, who hadn't stopped speaking the entire visit, except when directed to by his father, was even less inclined to pay attention to the disappearance of his youngest brother, who mattered a significant amount less to him than the empire he was one day to inherit. His second son, now nearing his fifteenth birthday, had tugged on his father's sleeve in a rare moment of silence and quietly pointed out the absence of Kyoya, although he shyly admitted that he hadn't the foggiest idea where they'd been when the boy went missing.

Within minutes, the entire hospital staff was on hand to locate the missing boy. Patients were placed on the back burner as nurses, doctors and surgeons alike began shifting vending machines to peer behind them, and getting down on their hands and knees to check underneath sofas and coffee tables.

Kyoya was oblivious to the panic he was creating, rather content with the sound of his own voice, he'd demolished the first half of the novel and was quite enjoying the way that Ikumi gasped in all the right places. She was fascinated, and her awe-struck expression made him contemplate if anyone had ever read her a story before. He was aware that a lot of the bigger words went over her head, but she didn't for a second allow her confusion to show, perhaps the _sounds_ of the words were enough to enrapture her in John Steinbeck's world.

As footsteps could be heard approaching her room, he tucked down the corner of the page and turned to check the clock on the wall outside in the corridor. His heart sank as he understood how long he'd been reading for, and as he began to realise how angry his father would be at him for wandering off like this. He'd only been smacked twice by his father before, and both times were for embarrassing him in situations like this. His cheek twinged at the memory, and he felt a rising sense of impending doom as a nurse opened the door.

Her face flooded with relief at the sight of him.

"Young Master! We've been looking everywhere for you! What're you doing in here with the dumb girl?"

"Dumb girl?" Kyoya frowned, "She's not dumb just because she can't read."

"She...she can't speak, Master Kyoya." the nurse explained, using a tone one might equate with a nanny speaking to a foolish child, "She doesn't even know we're here, look."

Kyoya looked over his shoulder at Ikumi, expecting to see her staring back at him, but her eyes were blank and glazed over. Her mouth was partially ajar and a small bubble of saliva was forming in the corner, she looked like a zombie from one of those movies Fuyami watched with him.

"You're wrong, she can speak. She spoke to me. How else would I know her name is Ikumi?" he explained coolly.

"Because it says so at the bottom of her bed, on her medical records." the nurse said with a smile, offering her hand for him to take.

He scowled and slid off the bed, refusing to look at the stupid nurse, refusing to look at stupid Ikumi. Why did she lie to the nurses? Why did she pretend she couldn't talk? It was stupid. It made him look stupid. Now he was going to get punished by his father, all because this stupid girl couldn't read because she was stupid.

* * *

**((a/n: hope you enjoyed, this is part one of a few, I ****_am _****working on the Hangover too but I just had this idea in the middle of the night and I had to start writing it! please read and review ily x))**


	2. Chapter 2

"The youngest Ootari boy is requesting to see the dumb girl again. What should I tell him?" the nurse asked her superior nervously.

"We cannot decline his request. It would be rude, and bad business."

"But it's rather unorthodox, outside of visitation hours and without his father present. Perhaps I should encourage him to come back tomorrow between 10 and 4?"

"Nonsense. You don't want the boy's father to think we are being disrespectful to his son. We let him do as he pleases, and ensure he makes it home safely."

"Aahh..."

"Now, nurse."

Kyoya sat patiently on the pristine waiting room chairs, hugging a satchel that rested on his lap. He watched the hospital goings-on with a bored expression. No ordinary civilian would recognise him as an Ootari without his father present, so he felt no necessity to keep up his fixed smile charade or sympathetic glances at the grieving families. There would be no benefit to these niceties.

"Excuse me, young master?"

He looked expectantly towards the nurse who offered her hand for him to hold. He raised an eyebrow and slipped off the chair, ignoring her outstretched palm.

"You must understand, we will have to contact your father to let him know you are here."

"How insolent." Kyoya said, taking the nurse by surprise.

"Wh-what?"

"To assume that my father doesn't have control over his children, and is letting them run freely through the city without his permission."

"I didn't mean it that way, young master. It is protocol to ensure your safety."

"Oh, I understand. Of course. I just doubt my father will feel the same way."

They reached Ikumi's room and the nurse opened the door for him. She bowed respectfully and closed it gently behind him as he stepped inside.

Ikumi was staring at the static on the television with her head tilted sideways, like a doll that'd been knocked over one too many times. As she heard the nurse's footsteps dissipate along the corridor, she snapped to attention and looked over to Kyoya.

"Why did you come back?" she asked, slowly.

"You were interesting."

Kyoya walked over to her bed, and pushed his glasses up. He swung his satchel onto the crinkled sheets and hoisted himself up to sit next to her, nudging her to move along with his shoulder so they could share her pillow. She watched him, inquisitive and smiling, as he removed a square piece of wood from the satchel and placed it on her lap.

"It's a chessboard." he explained, in answer to her questioning look.

"Like that story?"

"What story?"

She leant forwards to pick up the beautifully carved wooden pieces that remained inside his satchel.

"The one with the king and the queen. They are at war with another kingdom, but their armies are evenly matched. The outcome is based on strategy, as their strength is equal. It is the wise queen to makes most of the decisions, sending the prawns-"

"Pawns."

"-prawns into battle on her behalf. But she is a strong leader who fights also, the battle is only lost when one of the kings is trapped and killed."

"That's not a story, that's how to play." Kyoya scoffed, positioning the pieces on the board.

"My favourites are the horses."

"The knights."

"If they're knights, why do they look like horses?"

"The knights _ride _the horses. Just, shut up and play. I'll move first."

Kyoya found, to his secret delight and outward annoyance, that his victory was not as ensured as he'd previously believed it would be. He'd lost his queen at the very start to her cleverly placed bishop, and was suffering as a result.

"Why do you pretend you're stupid when the nurses come in?"

"I don't pretend I'm stupid. I just, ham up how sick I am."

"What's the good in that?"

"It means they don't discharge me."

"That's dumb. The whole point in a hospital is you get better then they discharge you."

"I don't want to get better."

"Why not?"

"Being in here means I'm safe. It means, no-one can get me."

"Who'd want to get you?"

She shifted uncomfortably, and watched as Kyoya took her rook.

"My family aren't like your family."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't have a mum and dad anymore."

"Check."

She moved her king back a space.

"They died when I was small."

"You're still small."

"Small_er_." she said with a smile.

"So, who looks after you?"

"Well, my uncle and aunt took me in. I thought they _were _my mum and dad for a few years, until last year when my uncle finally explained it to me after my aunt's funeral."

"Oh."

"Check."

Kyoya used his knight to take her pawn.

"It was him that did it."

"What?"

"My uncle killed my aunt. He was drunk, so drunk he couldn't stand. He had a shotgun, and he was screaming things at her. Saying she'd always had it in for him. She tried to call the police so he shot her five times in the chest. When he was questioned, he said their house had been broken into and they'd shot her with his gun. I don't know why they believed him."

"That's not right." Kyoya frowned, "They wouldn't just let him get away with it."

"He was sad when she died, so sad he drank even more. He started to hurt me to make himself feel better. One night he hurt me so bad that I ran away and came here. He always said he'd kill me if I ever tried to leave."

"You think he'd kill you if he found you?"

"Definitely."

"I don't believe you."

"What?"

Kyoya looked at her, hard. He studied every inch of her, her patchy hair and her scarred skin. He could make out tiny cigarette burns against her pale flesh. She was so thin that her skin clung to her cheekbones and he could have wrapped his whole hand around her thigh. She looked dead, and the more he looked the more sick he felt. Not because she looked disgusting – although she did – but because someone was cruel enough to put a little girl through all this pain with no remorse.

"Nevermind." he murmured.

She studied the board, and shifted her queen forwards.

"Checkmate."

* * *

Kyoya's sleep that night was riddled with nightmares, of enormous angry men baring shattered bottles as weapons and sobbing girls cowering in corners while he stood, watching, and unable to intervene. He screamed and screamed as the man beat the girl to a bloody pulp, his body paralysed.

He awoke sweating, crying, and shaking. And Ikumi was in his bedroom.

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_**I hope y'all can forgive me for the gap, it's still to be continued by the way! It's a big triggering and I'm sorry if it upset anyone!x**_


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